MLB News

Oct. 15 Darwin Barney pregame interview

MLB.com

Q. How much awareness is it of this group with Jose and Edwin pushing free agency, this might be the last run with this core group?

DARWIN BARNEY: I mean, every year is all or nothing at this point in the season. So I wouldn't say as a club or personally that I've thought about next year yet or anything to do with that. Obviously we hope we get all those guys back, that's kind of the core of this offense and this club and the leadership. Right now we're just focusing one day at a time. I wouldn't say any of us are thinking about that.

Q. You've ended up playing in I think four playoff games so far and in the lineup again today. Partly with Devon being injured, do you guys have conversations in the course of the playoffs as far as you guys kind of backing each other up and trying to contribute?

DARWIN BARNEY: Yeah, I mean that's been the approach all year. My job is to come to the park, be ready to play. Sometimes you find out a half hour before the game you're in there, and sometimes you find out the night before. But it's no secret that having Devon in the lineup is something that's really important to us. He's one of our best hitters all around, hits to the situation. It's a big loss anytime he's not in there.

So my job is to go out there, make some plays, do what I can to move runners, make positive outs if I'm going to make outs, and just try to keep this thing rolling.

Q. What was the conversation like when you saw Devon limping around first base last night?

DARWIN BARNEY: You know, we were aware of the situation, obviously. It's just one of those things where you hope the guy can go. He's our guy. I think we all have his back. And no one can blame him for being a gamer and wanting to be out there and get the job done. So the conversations are pretty minimal. I think it's more of just get yourself ready in case something happens. And unfortunately something did happen yesterday. And here we are.

So we're going to move forward. We're going to try to do what we can to fill that big hole that Devon brings to this lineup. That guy is so diverse offensively that I don't think there's another guy on this team that can do what he does offensively, but hopefully we can go out there and play well.

Q. How much awareness is it of this group with Jose and Edwin pushing free agency, this might be the last run with this core group?

DARWIN BARNEY: I mean, every year is all or nothing at this point in the season. So I wouldn't say as a club or personally that I've thought about next year yet or anything to do with that. Obviously we hope we get all those guys back, that's kind of the core of this offense and this club and the leadership. Right now we're just focusing one day at a time. I wouldn't say any of us are thinking about that.

Q. You've ended up playing in I think four playoff games so far and in the lineup again today. Partly with Devon being injured, do you guys have conversations in the course of the playoffs as far as you guys kind of backing each other up and trying to contribute?

DARWIN BARNEY: Yeah, I mean that's been the approach all year. My job is to come to the park, be ready to play. Sometimes you find out a half hour before the game you're in there, and sometimes you find out the night before. But it's no secret that having Devon in the lineup is something that's really important to us. He's one of our best hitters all around, hits to the situation. It's a big loss anytime he's not in there.

So my job is to go out there, make some plays, do what I can to move runners, make positive outs if I'm going to make outs, and just try to keep this thing rolling.

Q. What was the conversation like when you saw Devon limping around first base last night?

DARWIN BARNEY: You know, we were aware of the situation, obviously. It's just one of those things where you hope the guy can go. He's our guy. I think we all have his back. And no one can blame him for being a gamer and wanting to be out there and get the job done. So the conversations are pretty minimal. I think it's more of just get yourself ready in case something happens. And unfortunately something did happen yesterday. And here we are.

So we're going to move forward. We're going to try to do what we can to fill that big hole that Devon brings to this lineup. That guy is so diverse offensively that I don't think there's another guy on this team that can do what he does offensively, but hopefully we can go out there and play well.